Hey back again, sorry its been a little delay but everything has kind of been a whirlwind since we landed in Moscow. We are staying right in the city and its its awesome here. The buildings are unbelieveable and NO ONE speaks english haha. We had our exhibition game against HC Khimick today, a local Junior team who won their league this year. (A russian league kind of like the OHL) We won 4-3 in a shootout. The environment was crazy, about 3,000 fans in attendance who we screaming the whole game. We took the lead, then it was tied 1-1, they took the lead 2-1 for us to come back and tie it 2-2 then with about 2min left they scored on a slapshot to lead it 3-2. We called a timeout and right off the draw scored backdoor on a rush. The game ended and went immediately to a 3man shootout where we scored the only goal to take the game 4-3. It was and awesome experience and I cannot even imagine what Omsk will be like. We leave on a charter flight tomorrow at 12, have 2 practices monday, then have our game against Latvia tuesday. I will get back on the blog after that game…

Back again, last post before the team gets to the airport tomorrow in Boston and heads off to NY. From NY we fly to Moscow, and spend two days there including a scrimmage against a local Junior team to get our team acquired to the Olympic size ice. Today we had two practices, one from 11am-12am to get our feet moving and our hands back. We structured our lines for forwards and defensemen and got our goalie feeling some shots. A lot of flow drills and passing were implemented in practice so the fellas could adjust to their line mates. Our next skate wasnt untill 4pm so Gorm, Brownie, Stahl, Willy, Myself and a few other guys headed over to patriot place at gillette stadium for our last shopping visit in the states. The Pats were practicing on their outdoor practice field, but even despite some funny valiant efforts we werent allowed to watch. The 4pm practice ran till 6, and we worked on our systems. Neutral zone, O Zone, and D zone, including some PP and SH got us through the time pretty fast and finally it was back to Gorms house for some dinner and in a few minutes here some sleep. We heard today that our game VS. Russia at the OMSK Arena has already sold out, 9,000 fans. We are certainly not looking past Latvia or the Slovak Republic, but beating the Russians in front of all those fans is certainly on our to-do list. I will try to hop back on the blog when we arrive in Moscow to give you guys an update on the conditions there. Talk to you all soon. Also, I believe the guys at PreSk8 are posting these blogs on the facebook page, so if you have any questions you want answered, I will check the page comments on occasion. TTYS!

Hello everyone, my name is Jake Bolton and I am currently embarking on a trip to Omsk, Russia with the Under 21 team USA to compete in the world junior cup. Today we have a team practice in Boston, MA to get the guys together before leaving from the Boston airport tomorrow. We have two ice sessions, one for skills and footwork and one for systems and special teams. I will be blogging on here throughout the trip along with a few other teammates. Seems like the guys are all pretty pumped to be heading out to Russia to compete on the international stage, but we all know that we are representing the country and have to focus and play our best game right from the start. I will get back on the blog tonight after our skates for another update.